The generators of paratransit trips by persons with disabilities

Identifying the generators of paratransit trips by persons with disabilities is important to comprehend the current demand patterns and forecast future demand. Only a handful of studies have been conducted so far to identify the generators of paratransit trips and most focused on the home end of the trips. Given some of the inconsistencies in past studies and the scarcity of studies on the generators of trips away from home, this study attempts to identify the generators of paratransit trips beginning and ending at clients’ homes and away from home. It uses an extremely large dataset consisting of 1.91 million trips made by NJ TRANSIT’s Access Link clients, socioeconomic data from the American Community Survey, employment data from the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics, and establishment data from Dun and Bradstreet. The analytical methods include an ordinary least squares model (OLS) and several spatial generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) to identify the characteristics of census block groups associated with Access Link trip generation at home and away from home, Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis to identify the types of establishments located in the immediate vicinity of drop-offs, and a multinomial logit model (MNL) to examine the relationship between the characteristics of the establishments in the vicinity of drop-offs and the characteristics of the dropped-off clients. Together, the various analyses provide useful insights about paratransit trip generators at the macro and micro levels. Some implications of the findings are discussed.     

Cycle commuting in Belgium: Spatial determinants and ‘re-cycling’ strategies

This paper attempts to explain the spatial variation of the use of a bicycle for commuting to work at the level of the 589 municipalities in Belgium. Regression techniques were used and special attention was paid to autocorrelation, heterogeneity and multicollinearity. Spatial lag models were used to correct for the presence of spatial dependence and a disaggregated modelling strategy was adopted for the northern and southern parts of the country. The results show that much of the inter-municipality variation in bicycle use is related to environmental aspects such as the relief, traffic volumes and cycling accidents. Town size, distance travelled and demographic aspects also have some effect. In addition, there are regional differences in the effects of the structural covariates on bicycle use: the impact of variables such as traffic volume and cycling accidents differs substantially between the north and the south of the country. This paper also suggests that high rates of bicycle use in one municipality stimulate cycling in neighbouring municipalities, and hence that a mass effect can be initiated, i.e. more cycle commuting encourages even more commuters in the area to cycle. These findings provide some recommendations for decision-makers wishing to promote a shift from car to bicycle use.     

Enhancing stated preference surveys in transportation research: the contribution of geographic information systems

In this paper we argue that visualization, data management and computational capabilities of geographic information systems (GIS) can assist transportation stated preference research in capturing the contextual complexity of many transportation decision environments by providing respondents with maps and other spatial and non-spatial information in graphical form that enhance respondents' understanding of decision scenarios. We explore the multiple inherent contributions of GIS to transportation stated preference data collection and propose a framework for a GIS-based stated preference survey instrument. We also present the design concepts of two survey prototypes and their GIS implementation for a sample travel mode choice problem.     

Walking accessibility and property prices

Walking is an imperative travel mode, especially for short trips. Walking accessibility, which is defined as the ease of reaching essential destinations in the walk-in catchment area, may affect property prices because residents are more likely to be willing to pay for this attribute. In addition, different categories of public services may have varied influencing directions and magnitude. These two hypotheses are tested in this study. Taking Xiamen, China as a case study, we estimate the cumulative opportunities of public services on foot and develop a set of hedonic pricing models (more specifically, two pre-specified ordinary least squares models, four Box-Cox transformed models, and two spatial econometric models) to estimate, whether and to what extent, walking accessibility contributes to price premiums (or discounts). Using a database of 22,586 second-hand residential properties in 358 multi- or high-storey residential complexes, we find that (1) walking accessibility to public services contributes to the variations in housing prices and plays a role in determining housing prices; (2) different categories of services have vastly divergent, even opposite, influencing impacts; and (3) walking accessibility to primary schools, commercial centers, and sports and cultural centers have positive effects on house prices whereas walking accessibility to comprehensive hospitals adversely affects housing prices. Methodologically, we confirm that spatial econometric methods improve estimation accuracy and have more explanatory power relative to the standard non-spatial models. Robustness check analysis further guarantees the plausibility of this study.     

Assessment of spatial transferability of an activity-based model,TASHA

Spatial transferability has been recognized as a useful validation test for travel demand models. To date, however, transferability of activity-based models has not been frequently assessed. This paper assesses the spatial transferability of an activity-based model, TASHA (Travel Activity Scheduler for Household Agents), which has been developed for the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Canada. TASHA has been transferred to the context of the Island of Montreal, Canada using the 2003 Origin–Destination (O–D) travel survey and the 2001 Canadian Census. It generates daily schedules of activities (individual and joint) for each individual in this region. The modelled activity attributes (frequency, start time, duration and distance) from TASHA and observed attributes from the 2003 O–D travel survey are compared for five different activities (i.e. work, school, shopping, other, and return to home). At the aggregate level, TASHA provides quite reasonable outcomes (in some cases – better results than for the Toronto Area) for all four attributes for work, school and return to home activities with few exceptions (for instance, school start time). The model outcomes are also promising for shopping frequency and start times; however, TASHA provides larger differences for average shopping durations and distances. Only the forecasts for all four attributes for the ‘other’ activity type differ greatly with the observed attributes for the Montreal Island. These large differences most likely indicate the differences in behaviour between the Montreal Island and the Toronto Area. In general, we conclude that re-estimation of model parameters and the use of local activity attribute distributions (frequency, start time and duration) is a desirable step in the transfer of the TASHA model from one context to another.     

Congestion and pollution consequences of driving-to-school trips: A case study in Beijing

Parents compete for high-quality education for their children by enrolling them in good schools. However, in a Chinese mega-city like Beijing, three factors jointly lead to the spatial separation between schools and homes: the centralized public goods provision mechanism, the historical dependency in school location, and the constrained supply of housing in downtown. Without an adequate number of school buses, this spatial separation of schools and homes triggers the numerous long-distance driving-to-school trips by private vehicle during workday morning rush hours in Beijing. We use the start and end dates of “school holiday” as exogenous repeated shocks to the aggregate traffic congestion, and employ the two-stage least squares (2SLS) regression approach to examine the congestion and pollution consequences of such driving-to-school trips in Beijing. We find that, all else being equal, workdays during school holidays have a traffic congestion index 20% lower than that of non-school-holiday workdays. Such a sharp reduction in congestion leads to a significant decrease in PM₁₀ concentration. Policymakers should lower such “extra” congestion and environmental costs via optimizing the spatial balance between school supply and demand.     

Optimizing the locations of electric taxi charging stations: A spatial–temporal demand coverage approach

Vehicle electrification is a promising approach towards attaining green transportation. However, the absence of charging stations limits the penetration of electric vehicles. Current approaches for optimizing the locations of charging stations suffer from challenges associated with spatial–temporal dynamic travel demands and the lengthy period required for the charging process. The present article uses the electric taxi (ET) as an example to develop a spatial–temporal demand coverage approach for optimizing the placement of ET charging stations in the space–time context. To this end, public taxi demands with spatial and temporal attributes are extracted from massive taxi GPS data. The cyclical interactions between taxi demands, ETs, and charging stations are modeled with a spatial–temporal path tool. A location model is developed to maximize the level of ET service on the road network and the level of charging service at the stations under spatial and temporal constraints such as the ET range, the charging time, and the capacity of charging stations. The reduced carbon emission generated by used ETs with located charging stations is also evaluated. An experiment conducted in Shenzhen, China demonstrates that the proposed approach not only exhibits good performance in determining ET charging station locations by considering temporal attributes, but also achieves a high quality trade-off between the levels of ET service and charging service. The proposed approach and obtained results help the decision-making of urban ET charging station siting.     

地铁高架槽形梁足尺模型破坏试验与空间分析研究

通过某城市地铁高架试验段槽形梁桥足尺模型破坏试验,测定结构的极限承载能力,研究其空间受力变形特性及破坏特征。试验结果表明,结构在正常使用和极限状态下的极限荷载分别为设计荷载的1.68和3.0倍,具有足够的安全系数。三维有限元数值计算结果表明,底板存在剪力滞后现象,越接近梁端愈明显。底板纵向剪应力最大值出现在梁端附近截面底板与腹板相交处,支座脱空效应对脱空支座位置的底板应力影响较大,设计中需对梁端进行局部加强处理。跨中截面腹板出现拉应力,最大可达0.91 MPa,设计中应考虑设置一定的竖向抗拉钢筋,防止裂缝产生。     

常规物理力学性质指标在湿陷机理上的体现

研究目的:湿陷性为黄土的主要工程地质问题,其产生机理极其复杂,产生原因多种多样,需进一步深入研究。研究方法:基于现有文献对黄土的湿陷原因与机理的认识,以甘肃黄土地区高等级公路黄土分区项目为例,利用多元统计分析方法中的因子分析对甘肃陇西陇东地区黄土的59组样本的9个常规试验的物理力学指标数据进行了分析,在此基础上,对黄土湿陷机理内因进行了分析。研究结论:黄土的湿陷性指标与其它物理力学指标存在相关性,同时,揭示出产生湿陷的黄土必须有湿陷空间及一定量遇水强度降低的联接,黄土的疏松性、多孔性正是其反映,特别是支架孔隙是导致黄土湿陷的最主要原因,而非饱和黄土是产生湿陷的前提,粘粒含量及粘土的水-胶联结在产生湿陷过程中的作用需要进一步商榷。此外,本方法解决了常规单因子分析因指标交叉而分析失真的缺陷。     

交流异步电机直接转矩控制理论的研究

直接转矩控制是异步电机交流传动中一种新型控制方法，它充分利用逆变器的开关特点，引入容差控制概念，通过一些简单的计算和调节使异步电机的磁链和转矩在动态时按要求快速变化，因而具有高动态性能，控制电路简单的优点。对直接转矩控制系统的原理与理论作了深入的研究与探讨。